01/06/2022
Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that causes a wide range of clinical infections. It is a leading cause of bacteremia and infective endocarditis as well as osteoarticular, skin and soft tissue, pleuropulmonary, and device-related infections. Staphylococcus aureus is both a commensal bacterium and a human pathogen. Approximately 30% of the human population is colonized with S. aureus (1). Simultaneously, it is a leading cause of bacteremia and infective endocarditis (IE) as well as osteoarticular, skin and soft tissue, pleuropulmonary, and device-related infections. The past 2 decades have witnessed two clear shifts in the epidemiology of S. aureus infections: first, a growing number of health care-associated infections, particularly seen in infective endocarditis and prosthetic device infections, and second, an epidemic of community-associated skin and soft tissue infections driven by strains with certain virulence factors and resistance to β-lactam antibiotics.
